Iraq War

In late June, 2007, Senator Lugar urged the Bush administration to pursue a new direction in Iraq "very soon," and argued that:
</blockquote>Our course in Iraq has lost contact with our vital national security interests in the Middle East and beyond. Our continuing absorption with military activities in Iraq is limiting our diplomatic assertiveness there and elsewhere in the world[1]

On July 12, 2007, Sens. Lugar and John Warner (R-Va.) introduced an amendment to the FY2008 defense appropriations bill that would require the President to devise an exit strategy from Iraq within three months. Seeking bipartisan support, the measure was an attempt at a "third path" in Iraq war legislation, between Democrats' call for an immediate troop withdrawal, and Republicans' call for support of President Bush's troop "surge." The amendment essentially demands that the President develop an alternative plan for Iraq war policy if the "surge" fails by the September progress report deadline. "It would require Bush by Oct. 16 to provide Congress with a plan for the redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq and a change in their current combat mission to guarding Iraq’s borders, training its security forces, fighting al Qaeda in Iraq, and protecting U.S. installations. The measure recommends that Bush design plans that can be implemented by Dec. 31." The measure also calls for a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the prospect's of Iraq's stability, along with a review of the intelligence findings that underpinned the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq. The provision includes an "expectation" that the President would request another authorization of force for the war when he reports to Congress in September.

The Nuclear Safeguards and Supply Act of 2007

On April 18, 2007, Sen. Lugar introduced the The Nuclear Safeguards and Supply Act of 2007 (S.1138), the Senate version of the International Nuclear Fuel for Peace and Nonproliferation Act of 2007 passed by the House. The purpose of the bill was to establish an international regime for the assured supply of nuclear fuel for peaceful means and to authorize contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to support the establishment of an international nuclear fuel bank. A goal of this bill would be to remove pretexts for countries to build their own uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing facilities, as these national facilities might have limited security and could serve as fronts for countries to develop nuclear weapons programs. When he introduced the bill, Lugar explained the importance of a well regulated international nuclear fuel facility, stating:

"The construction of facilities for the enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in new states, even for ostensibly peaceful purposes, poses an unacceptable long-term risk to the national security of the United States. The enrichment technology intended to produce fuel for reactors can also be used to create highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, and the plutonium that is produced from reprocessing spent fuel is also suitable for nuclear weapons and susceptible to diversion to terrorists. The spread of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities will dangerously increase the chances that new nations will develop nuclear weapons and that terrorists might obtain fissile or radiological materials for crude devices. It is therefore incumbent on the United States to lead an international effort to halt the expansion of enrichment and reprocessing to new countries."

Bio

Background

Born April 4, 1932 in Indianapolis. He graduated from Denison University in 1954, and went on to attend Pembroke College, University of Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar, and received a graduate degree in 1956. He served in the United States Navy from 1957 to 1960. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

Lugar manages his family's 604-acre Marion County corn, soybean and tree farm. Before entering public life, he helped his brother Tom manage the family's food machinery manufacturing business in Indianapolis.[1]

Lugar served on the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners from 1964 to 1967. He was elected Mayor of Indianapolis in 1967. He is closely associated with the adoption of Unigov in 1970, which unified the government of Indianapolis with that of Marion County. He was reelected mayor in 1971. During this time he became known as "Richard Nixon's favorite mayor" due to his support for devolving federal powers to local communities.

Senate career

Lugar unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Senate in 1974, but two years later, he ran again, unseating incumbent Senator Vance Hartke. In 2006, he will run without major party opposition for re-election to a sixth term. [2]

Lugar ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1996, but his campaign failed to gain traction.

Lugar has been influential in gaining Senate ratification of treaties to reduce the world's use, production and stockpiling of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In 1991, he initiated a partnership with Sam Nunn with the objective of eliminating latent weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. To date, the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program has deactivated more than 5,900 nuclear warheads that were once aimed at the United States.[3]

As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Lugar built bipartisan support for 1996 federal farm program reforms, ending 1930s-era federal production controls. He initiated a biofuels research program to help decrease U.S. dependency on foreign oil, and led initiatives to streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reform the food stamp program, and preserve the federal school lunch program.[4]

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. For specific controversies, see this article's record and controversies section.

Campaign contribution data could not be found.

Links to more campaign contribution information for Richard Lugarfrom the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

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